Malaysian medical team ready for deployment at Bangladesh field hospital

Sixty Health Ministry medical specialists and officers are on standby to be deployed to the field hospital at a camp sheltering Rohingya refugees in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh.

Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr S. Subramaniam said the advance team, which has specialists in various fields, would be leaving for the camp once the Bangladesh government had given the go ahead.

"The Cabinet made the decision to provide a field hospital to help Rohingya refugees in the aspects of health.

"We have made all the necessary preparations with the assistance of various agencies among others the Malaysian Armed Forces and the National Security Council. It (the field hospital) will also have nurses and other support staff," Dr Subramaniam, who is also MIC president, told reporters at MIC's Deepavali open house at the Batu Caves Temple compound here today.

READ: Malaysian Armed Forces to train doctors at Rohingya camp field hospital

However, he said the location of the field hospital had yet to be decided and also how long it would be stationed there.

Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, who made a visit to the Rohingya refugee camp in Kutupalong, Cox's Bazar recently had announced that Malaysia would be setting up the field hospital costing RM3.5 million at that camp.

Meanwhile, on Budget 2018 which Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak is scheduled to table on Oct 27, Dr Subramaniam said said MIC had forwarded several proposals for consideration.

He said the proposals were related to the Malaysian Indian Blueprint (MIB), a master plan for the next stage of development of the Indian community in the country.

"The MIB has given new confidence to the community. We can see an increased support from the community to the government following the introduction of the blueprint and we (MIC) will further explain how it benefits them to further increase the support," he said. -- Bernama